Your residency personal statement is your chance to sell yourself, so here's how to avoid the six most-common mistakes.

Writing about yourself can be one of the hardest things. But to clinch the residency spot of your dreams, you need a well-crafted residency personal statement. This document is your chance to show the decision-makers who you really are: not just your marks or accomplishments, but your personality, goals, and what makes you a great fit for their program.

It's also your chance to guide the interview process. "If a student does a really good job talking about their accomplishments and being very specific about what they've done, it provides a blueprint for people to ask questions, which makes candidates more comfortable in their interviews," says Robert Astroff of Astroff Consultants, an admissions mentoring company based in Toronto.

A good residency personal statement won't guarantee you a spot, but a poorly written one might take you out of the running. Here's how to avoid the most common mistakes students make when writing their residency personal statements:

1. Don't wait until the last minute

Your personal statement shouldn't be an afterthought — something you dash off just before the deadline. Instead, it should be something you're strategically thinking about from the beginning of your clerkship or even the beginning of medical school. "It's really important to position yourself throughout your programs so that you know what you're going to be writing about," says Astroff.

2. Don't make general statements

From the beginning of medical school, you've been told to focus on professionalism, scholarship, communication, collaboration, advocacy and leadership. But, everyone else has been told to strive for these things as well. This means general statements like, "I'm a really strong leader" won't set you apart.

"You're not providing enough evidence for someone to understand what type of leadership skills you've exhibited," says Astroff. Instead, quantify what you've done as a leader and why it's important to you.

3. Don't get caught up on your opening line

Yes, you'll want to draw the reader into your statement with a compelling anecdote or clever opening line. But that can come after the rest of your statement is written. "It's really important that you have a strong skeleton to your personal statement, and then you can add the muscles in the skin and make it look good afterward," says Astroff.

4. Don't just repeat your CV

Don't list all your accomplishments in your residency personal statements. "It's really just telling the story," says Astroff. "Focus on a few major things and do a good job highlighting them."

Your CV is a great place to look for inspiration. Astroff suggests before you start writing, you sit down and read through your CV as a way to reflect on all your experiences in medical school. "Then you have concrete examples that you can talk about in your personal statement, and eventually during the interview."

5. Don't forget to connect your statement to the program

Some students do a great job of explaining why they're a fit for the specialty, but not to the school itself. While it's a bit harder without visiting the schools, it's still important to find out some specific information about the school and tie it into your statement.

"Reach out to residents or former graduates of a program to find out a little bit more about it. Schools don't want to feel like they're reading a generic personal statement, but something specifically for them, that demonstrates why you would be a good match for that particular program," says Astroff.

6. Don't keep it from your references

Astroff says one of the biggest mistakes students make is not sharing their personal statements with the people who are acting as references for them. This, and your CV, will provide them with context about you beyond the few weeks you've spent with them.

"We find that students who put in the time and effort to start early and share this information with the referees really put themselves in a better position to get the strongest letters possible. And that makes the candidacy even more viable," says Astroff.

Related Stories:

• How To Write a Strong Residency Personal Statement
• 5 Ways to Help You Slay a Virtual CaRMS Interview
• Residents Share Their Secrets for Getting Through CaRMS
• Canada's Top 5 Most (and Least) Competitive Residencies

This article originally appeared on the RBC Healthcare - Advice & Learning